Sew-very-British!

I've gotten very excited about a BBC reality show called The Great British Sewing Bee. Those who know me know I don't even have a functional TV - I mean, I have a TV but I don't have cable so I can't get any channels. I hate TV really and only use it to stream movies from the computer or to watch DVDs. Anyway, you can watch The Great British Sewing Bee on YouTube. Episode 1 is here, and there are 4 episodes total. They're all available on YouTube and, believe me, they are addicting. Begin watching at your own peril!

After watching the first two, I was so inspired I went immediately to my sewing stash and pulled out a skirt I started working on a year or so ago. I had been gifted with the fabric, a beautiful soft wool plaid, and I actually drafted the pattern for the skirt myself. It's not complicated, but I decided to put a ruffle of sorts on the bottom of it, and at that point I got stuck and put it away.

These British ladies and gents, who were pulled from the general public in London with varying degrees of expertise with sewing, really cranked me up along the lines of, "I know how to do that - I can sew that well. I'll bet I could do that even better." Well, you can see I got mildly insufferable, but the end product was good. It got me excited about sewing for myself again.

So here's the skirt with its ruffle - not finished, but all that's left is to attach the lining and hem it. Piece of cake, love, as the Brits say!

Animal fabric

Much Life has come between me and my blog, dear readers. But I am back! Of course, Life goes on thankfully, and in force. Some of Life is work and for the past few months I've been working as a bartender slingin' drinks at the pool bar of a nearby luxurious resort. What fun! What a lot of work! Now summer is waning, although the best weather of the year still remains here in northern California. I'll be working fewer hours but still (wo)manning the pool bar until at least mid-October. Perfect. It leaves me more time for all those other things I love.

Like pillowcases. Honestly, I have a passion for cute pillowcases. Here's another one I made...can you see the little monkeys on the blue part? Love them.

And then there's the Ant Skirt. It started out to be a pair of crop pants, but I seriously over-estimated my girth when it came to alterations to the pattern. Yes, it happens to all of us! When I got these pants put together, they were ginormous. Seriously. After a good laugh with my boyfriend Wayne over huge pants with ants, I cut off the legs and the crotch pieces, and sewed up the front and back. Voila! An adorable Ant Skirt. Here it is:

And here are the ants!

Isn't that about as cute as it gets? Now I'm working on a giraffe skirt, which I'll show you soon.